TRUSTEES’ RESPONSIBILITIES

The trustees, who are also the company directors of Islamic Relief Worldwide, are responsible for preparing the trustees’ report. This includes the group strategic report and the financial statements, preparing these in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires our trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. They must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and the group, and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including income and expenditure, of the charitable group for that period.

In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

• select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently
• observe the methods and principles in the Charity Commission Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP)
• make judgments and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent
• state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements
• prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis, unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable group will continue in operation.

Trustees must keep adequate accounting records that are sufficient to:

• show and explain the charitable company and the group’s transactions
• disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable group
• enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) and the provisions of the trust deed. The trustees are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and the group and, therefore, must take reasonable steps to prevent and detect fraud and other irregularities.

Under Section 418 of the Companies Act 2006 the trustees’ report must contain statements to the effect that, in the case of each of the persons who are trustees at the time, the report is approved:

As far as they are aware, there is no relevant audit information of which our auditors are unaware.
They have taken all the steps that they should have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information, and to establish that our auditors are aware of that information.

The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

We develop strategic plans to make certain that we deliver maximum public benefit and achieve our strategic objectives, which fall under purposes defined by the Charities Act 2011. The trustees have carefully considered the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit in setting our objectives and planning our activities.

The organisation recognises that it is only as good as the staff that it employs. Accordingly, Islamic Relief Worldwide is an equal opportunities employer and we are proud to recruit and promote staff based on aptitude and ability, without discrimination. The steps we take include ensuring ‘blind shortlisting’ when recruiting to new roles, so applicants cannot be identified when we decide who to shortlist for interview.

As set out in our Recruitment and Selection Policy, we make all reasonable adjustments necessary for candidates who tell us they have a disability and give full and fair consideration to all applications. It is the policy of Islamic Relief Worldwide that the recruitment, training, career development and promotion of people with disabilities should, as far as possible, be identical to that of other employees. Our policies and procedures fully support our colleagues with disabilities, and we take active measures to do so. The organisation is responsive to the needs of its employees and as such, should any employee become disabled during their time with us, we will make reasonable adjustments to their working environment, where possible, in order to keep the employee with the organisation.

Determined to do more, we are working to create and embed an Equal Opportunities Policy and to ensure our learning and development opportunities are accessible to all colleagues. We support our employees and actively develop their skills. We encourage all our colleagues to engage with our organisational strategy and objectives and to give their suggestions and views in the development of these.

In 2023 we developed a two-year action plan based on staff feedback from the previous global staff survey. The action plan will focus on the main areas which staff have highlighted for improvement. Many steps have already been implemented and the remainder of the actions will be completed in 2024.

One of the focus areas from the staff survey centred around staff development and progression. We have subsequently launched a project which will focus on leadership and succession which aims to reduce Islamic Relief’s leadership vulnerability by the development and implementation of a focused and transparent succession strategy, with a specific focus on future leaders, business critical roles with a focus on improving the gender balance in terms of access to opportunities and make-up of senior leaders of Islamic Relief.

We strive to promote a healthy workplace. In 2023 managers received mental health awareness training; and we trained an additional four mental health first aiders. Islamic Relief now has over 29 mental health first aiders offering support and guidance to colleagues.

Staff benefitted from a programme of wellbeing initiatives, including wellbeing days, and webinars on work-life balance, depression and anxiety to maximise on their wellbeing. We continue to provide greater flexibility to allow staff to achieve a better work-life balance and in 2023 we continued with the model of hybrid working in the UK to allow staff to continue working from home for most of the week while developing a functional return to work premises to enhance cohesion and collaboration and boost morale. We provide all our UK-based staff with a healthcare cash plan and access to an employee assistance programme which includes online consultations with a doctor.

The commitment and passion of our network of volunteers continues to contribute greatly to the success of Islamic Relief Worldwide. These dedicated volunteers have been instrumental in supporting every aspect of our operations: across our shops, administration, fundraising and campaigning activities. Our active management of volunteers enables us to deploy them in the most effective way and enhances their experience.

As we commemorate five successful years of partnership and auditing by Grant Thornton, the Board of Trustees acknowledges their valuable contributions to Islamic Relief. In line with best governance practices and to ensure continued impartiality and accountability, the Board of Trustees has decided to re-tender Audit Services.

The process of tendering for potential auditors will be initiated in a timely manner. The chosen auditors will be presented to trustees for approval at the upcoming Annual General Meeting.

Islamic Relief Worldwide raises funds through various channels including online platforms and through our International Fundraising and Partner Development departments, which help new member offices establish themselves and grow, as well as strengthen links with institutional donors around the world. In the UK, we engage donors and fundraise through our strategic business unit, Islamic Relief UK.

The overall objectives are agreed with the Board and disseminated to Islamic Relief UK. The Board and Islamic Relief UK then plan accordingly, setting key performance indicators for their teams and delivering in accordance with the Fundraising Regulator’s Code of Fundraising, to which the charity adheres. Management regularly monitors the performance of the fundraising teams and reports are issued to the Board periodically.

The charity adheres to all relevant statutory regulations including the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Charities Act 2011. We are registered with the Fundraising Regulator and strive for best practice in fundraising by adhering to the Code of Fundraising Practice and are committed to its Fundraising Promise. Islamic Relief is also a member of the Institute of Fundraising.

Our fundraising uses several different approaches, which include the following:

• Major-donor giving
• Corporate giving
• Community fundraising
• Digital peer-to-peer fundraising
• Charity shops
• Sponsored challenges
• Live TV appeals
• Live radio appeals
• Volunteer activities
• Direct mail
• Social media fundraising
• Influencer fundraising
• Digital fundraising

Most of our activities were carried out by our own staff and volunteers. Islamic Relief Worldwide occasionally engaged third-party organisations to fundraise on our behalf, subject to contractual agreements and requirements to meet the same standards observed by Islamic Relief Worldwide in our fundraising practices.

A student volunteer led campaign, Charity Week engaged more than 20,000 volunteers across the globe and saw 153 UK educational institutions take part in the event. The project was run by 168 core volunteers who worked closely with our fundraising team. They received formal training and support to deliver an effective campaign which raised a total of £1,100,844.

In 2023, we continued working on developing policies including our Donor Refund Policy and Donor Care Policy. We also continued to integrate the Code of Fundraising into our existing policies and procedures by documenting the complaints process which is returned to the Fundraising Regulator annually.

Our UK division manages and conducts fundraising on behalf of Islamic Relief Worldwide. We recruit fundraisers through a formal recruitment process, as members of staff, and are required to abide by the Code of Fundraising Practice – and we provide training, carried out by a legal firm, in this regard. Monitoring the conduct of our fundraisers includes regular one to ones with their line manager.

Islamic Relief Worldwide abides by the Fundraising Regulator’s Code of Fundraising Practice and ensures our colleagues and volunteers are fully briefed about the protection of vulnerable people. We brief staff and volunteers about best practice before they undertake any fundraising, making them aware of the need to identify, respect, support and protect vulnerable people.

Our Supporter Relations Team have undertaken vulnerable persons training run by leading charity, Samaritans. If the teams are made aware of vulnerable person who needs to be removed from a mailing list, they do so right away and refunds are available on request where donations are fond to impact a vulnerable person.

We pride ourselves in having an open-door policy, providing stakeholders with transparency and an opportunity to give us feedback on their experience. However, there may be times when we do not meet the high standards we set ourselves. For such instances, we have a Fundraising Regulator-approved complaints policy in place. We try to make it easy for concerns and complaints to be raised via our website, where our Complaints Policy can be found. Complaints are captured centrally, dealt with in accordance with the process laid out in the policy and reported to the Fundraising Regulator through the annual return. In 2023 we received 76 complaints, each of which was handled in accordance with our complaints policy.

Our supporter relations team processes and resolves complaints in line with our Complaints Policy. We also submit an annual complaints return to the Fundraising Regulator.

Trustees’ indemnity insurance, indemnifying each trustee against liability to third parties, has been in place throughout the year ended 31 December 2023 and up to the date of approval of this report.